HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD-05-02 Extend Ordinance Prohibiting New CybercafesORDINANCE NO. 5-
02
I AN URGENCY MEASURE OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ORANGE EXTENDING
THE INTERIM ORDINANCE PROHIBITING
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW
CYBERCAFES.WHEREAS, Section 65858(a) of the California Government Code authorizes the
City Council to adopt, as an urgency measure, an interim ordinance prohibiting any uses
which may be in conflict with a contemplated zoning proposal which the City Council,
planning commission or planning department is studying to protect the public safety, health
and welfare;
and WHEREAS, the Orange Police Department submitted a report to the City Council
on March 12, 2002, documenting that in the last nine months, four Cybercafes have opened
in the City of Orange and one proposed Cybercafe is currently being processed;
and WHEREAS, the Orange Police Department reported that the business
actlYlty reported on the Cybercafe applications is not representative of a significant portion of
the observed activity at the Cybercafes;
and WHEREAS, police surveillance of the business activity indicated that a
significant portion of the business activity at Cybercafes is the playing of violent video games by
teens and young adolescents;
and WHEREAS, police surveillance documented the presence of gang members
along with incidents of loitering, gambling and drug sales;
and WHEREAS, while the Orange Police Department is not currently aware of
any violent incidents at a Cybercafe in Orange, incidents of shootings, stabbings, assaults,
drug and gambling offenses, truancy, curfew violations, loitering and gang-related
offensives have been reported in other neighboring jurisdictions, including a gang-
related homicide in neighboring
Garden Grove; and WHEREAS, the City Council has reviewed the report from
the Orange Police Department and attached reports from
neighboring jurisdictions; and I WHEREAS, based on the foregoing, the City Council found
and determined that prior to the approval and/or establishment of additional Cybercafes in
the City, further immediate study of the current zoning and development standards
was necessary; and WHEREAS, the Community Development Department was
directed to conduct studies on Cybercafe operations and to report back to the City Council
as expeditiously as practicable concerning any proposed new zoning regulations and
WHEREAS, based upon the aforementioned evidence the City Council adopted
urgency interim ordinance number 4-02 which prohibits the establishment of new
Cybercafes until such time that the Community Development Department can recommend new
zoning regulations and development standards that will address the aforementioned concerns;
and WHEREAS, interim ordinance number 4-02 is due to expire on April
25, 2002,unless
extended; and WHEREAS, the Community Development Department has not completed
its review and study of the Cybercafes and at this time has no regulations or
proposed development standards to address the aforementioned
concerns; and WHEREAS, in order to prevent the frustration of said studies and
the implementation thereof, the public interest, health, safety and welfare requires the immediate extension
of this ordinance. The absence of this ordinance would create a serious threat to the
health, safety and welfare of the community in that based on the reports received Cybercafes
are operating in a manner other than described by their applicants, have been the site of
an inordinate number of criminal offenses, violent and non-violent, in neighboring
jurisdictions and absent further regulation have the potential to create similar criminal impacts
in Orange; and WHEREAS, the City Council deems it imperative that, due
to the potential detrimental ramifications to the public safety, health and welfare as
discussed above, the interim ordinance shall be extended and all new approval of and
establishment of Cybercafes shall be prohibited until after April 22, 2003, unless and until this ordinance
is terminated or extended further by action of the
City Council; and WHEREAS, the City Council determines, by a four-fifths vote,
that the extension of this interim ordinance is a matter of City-wide importance
and necessary for the continued preservation and protection of the public health safety
or welfare of the community.NOW THEREFORE, the City Council of the City
of
Orange hereby
ordains as follows:SECTION I:Any new establishment or operation of a Cybercafe,
as defined herein, is prohibited from the elective date of this ordinance
until after
April 22, 2003.SECTION II:A Cybercafe is defined to mean an establishment that
provides more than six (6)computers and/or other electronic devices and charges
compensation for access to such computers and/or other electronic devices for access to the
Internet, e-mail,
SECTION III:
I
The City's Community Development Department shall continue to formally process
all new applications for Cybercafes, but shall not issue any approvals thereof and no new
Cybercafes shall be established during the period that the extension of this interim urgency
ordinance remains in full force and effect.
SECTION IV:
Based on the facts recited above, the City Council finds that further establishment of
Cybercafes under current zoning laws is a threat to the public safety, health and welfare. This
extension of the interim ordinance is introduced, passed and adopted at one meeting and shall
become effective immediately in accordance with Section 65858 of the California
Government Code.
SECTION V:
If any section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this Ordinance is
for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity
of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would
have passed this Ordinance, and each section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause and
phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that anyone (or more) section, subdivision, paragraph,
sentence, clause or phrase had been declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION VI:
A summary of this ordinance shall be published once within fifteen (15) days after the
extension of this interim ordinance is passed, in a newspaper of general circulation, published
and circulated in the City of Orange. The City Clerk shall post in the Office of the City Clerk,
a certified copy of the full text of such adopted interim ordinance along with the names of
those City Council members voting for and against the extension of the interim ordinance in
accordance with Government Code 36933. This interim ordinance shall be of no further force
and effect after April 22, 2003, unless it is subsequently extended in accordance with the
provisions of Section 65858(a) cfthc California Government Code.
ADOPTED this nrd day 01 April, 2002.
I jJf
ATTEST:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE )
CITY OF ORANGE )
I, CASSANDRA J. CATHCART, City Clerk of the City of Orange, California, do
hereby certify that the foregoing Extension of the Interim Ordinance adopted as an urgency
measure was introduced, duly passed and adopted at the regular meeting of the City Council
held on the 23,d
day of April, 2002, by the following vote, to wit:
A YES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Slater, Alvarez, Murphy, Coontz, Cavecche
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS: None